The pressures of the job

Heather VanCura: Burnout is always a risk with any job, especially in tech. There's constant pressure to keep doing more. I try to be conscious of my stress levels because your body will tend to give you signals that you're doing too much.

You should also listen to your support system. If you're hearing that you look really tired, you need to listen. I've never been at the point where I can't function, but I've heard of that happening to others.

You should look at what's really essential and peel away all the extra things because, as an advocate especially, you can be tempted to say yes to everyone. In reality, you just can't do that. Be conscious of how much you can actually do as one person. Part of being in a community is asking people for help.

I hardly ever take vacation. Most of my vacation time is spent visiting family, but it's nice to be at home sometimes. I'm planning on spending some time at home this summer. We'll see how that works out because there's always something coming up! I may be compelled to say yes depending on the activity.

Geertjan Wielenga: When you finally get to a conference on the other side of the world, how do you deal with unexpected technical situations when you're actually in the conference room?

Heather VanCura: Inevitably those happen, so I try to be prepared. I try to have all my connectors and multiple ones as spares. You can obviously borrow from the hotel or ask the conference organizers when you get there. If you end up at a conference and a technical glitch happens, there's usually someone there in the room who can help you out, so don't be afraid to ask for help.

To share a funny story, last year, in the Ivory Coast, I was giving an impromptu keynote talk. It wasn't something I had traveled to the Ivory Coast to do, but all of a sudden, I was at this boot camp for women coders.

There were 300 women there. I thought I was going to visit a school, but it turned out they wanted me to give a keynote presentation!

I did a variation of a past talk, but the power went out, so that meant that there wasn't any air conditioning. I didn't have my slides and the audience didn't necessarily understand English, as they actually wanted the talk in French. I don't speak French!

I was sweating profusely in a climate I'm not accustomed to, so I had to be willing to adapt in that situation. At the end of the talk, I've never been so overwhelmed with requests for selfies. They basically rushed me and they all wanted selfies with me. They were just overjoyed that I was there and had shared what I know.

Geertjan Wielenga: In your experience, are there particular cultures where interaction from a stage works especially well and others where it definitely shouldn't even be tried?

Heather VanCura: I think throughout Europe speaking from a stage works well and also in the U.S. Audiences tend to come forward with questions throughout and interact.

It's more challenging in places like Japan and India, where it's difficult to get any questions at all. Although, last time I was in Japan, I did get some questions after my talk.

I had allowed time for questions. Some people also came up after the talk, even if they didn't say anything during the talk. I noticed a change, which was nice.

Geertjan Wielenga: What changed? Was it the culture or was it you?

Heather VanCura: I try different things to encourage questions, but there have been Java Days in Tokyo for several years. They get some Western speakers and I think it's a pretty common thing now to ask for questions, so people might have just got over that barrier.

Geertjan Wielenga: You're traveling a lot, but what does your typical day look like?

Heather VanCura: I don't really have a typical day. I'm traveling about 20-25% of the time. Otherwise, I'm doing events, meeting people, writing, and doing interviews. When I'm not on the road, I usually have one or two days a week where I go into an office and have meetings. This could be either in Santa Clara, where many of the Java development team are based, or in Redwood City.

I go and meet the VP one or two days a week. For the remaining days, I actually work from home. Those days are really when I get my actual work done, not that those other things aren't my work!

If I have meetings with people in other parts of the world, where I don't need to be face to face, I do that from home, early in the morning usually. Talking to people in Europe, Brazil, or Asia can mean an early start.

Apart from that, I will be developing materials, presentations, or abstracts, or working on JCP activities, like minutes or materials from meetings. I have several working groups that I run, as well as the Executive Committee board meetings. There is also the time spent responding to emails and communicating on social media is constant.

Geertjan Wielenga: How do you use social media in your role?